Featuring Reviews of Triangle Area Restaurants, and Food and Drink Recommendations!

Ginza in Cary

I went to Ginza with a large group last Friday for lunch. They have a nice back room for large group that accommodates about 20 people or so. Ginza serves sushi and other Asian foods, but their main specialty is hibachi.

I’ve been to quite a few other hibachi places in my life. I know there’s not really much “Japanese” about what Americans call hibachi, but some places try harder than others to retain some sort of Asian roots. Ginza is more on the American side, serving things like iceberg lettuce salads, simple broth soup, and very mildly flavored sauces.

I ordered steak hibachi, and for lunch it’s at a reasonable price of about $10. Most hibachi places will charge $20 or more for dinner. I was given a choice between soup or salad, but since I guess they got confused with the large party, everyone got both the soup and salad. The service was pretty slow there, slow to order, slow to get the soup and salad, and slow to start the hibachi. Normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing, as it gives more time for conversation, but I only had an hour for lunch and I went way over that.

When the grilling starts, the chefs put on a bit of a show. Lots of fire, lots of fancy knife play and flinging and whacking of spatulas. I’m just glad our chef didn’t toss any food at us, like the other table’s did. I’ve been to hibachi places where the meat and veggies were cooked all at once, and served with steamed rice. This place made all the veggies first. Then they made some kind of fried rice that was pretty plain. Then the meat was served last. The veggies and meat were great, I just wish they could have been served together. I didn’t make use of the sauces, I prefer to be able to really taste the food.

I’m not sure if I’d want to come back again. I know the boy likes to watch the chefs, and it keeps him occupied during the meal. But dinner is so pricey, and I really like Ichibar better for authentic Japanese food. But the restaurant was very nice, and the staff seemed very friendly, so I wouldn’t mind going back if friends or coworkers were going. Seems like a good place to socialize.